Foote and China: How It All Began

Foote’s international partnerships began when Henry Fan approached the Yale-China Association in 1998 with the idea of a U.S.-China teacher exchange program. He envisioned a link with Huizhen Academy, the independent elementary school he had founded four years earlier in Ningbo and an American elementary school.

Established in 1901, the Yale-China Association is a private, nonprofit organization whose mission is to promote mutual understanding between Chinese and Americans through teaching and service. They suggested Mr. Fan meet with then Head of School Jean Lamont and together, working with staff from Yale-China, they began to develop a program that brought teachers annually from Huizhen to teach at Foote for a semester and allowed Foote teachers to travel to China and teach at Huizhen.

Student Travel Begins

In 2004, thanks to a foundation grant that provided funding so the trip could be made available to all ninth graders, eight pioneer students, with teachers Hannah Leckman and Adam Soloman, visited Huizhen Academy over spring vacation.

A New Connection: Yali Middle School

Starting in 2005, Foote began an exchange with a middle school founded in Changsha in 1906 by Yale. Yali (an early Chinese transliteration of "Yale") Middle School was known throughout China in the first half of the century for the quality of its instruction.  In 1951, the municipal government took over administration of the school, moved it to its present 17-acre campus in the center of the city, and changed its name to the Changsha Number Five Middle School.  In 1985, with the re-establishment of relations with Yale-China and with the support of its Chinese alumni, the school was renamed and is once again known as Yali Middle School. Yali is a "key" secondary school, receiving priority in funding and faculty recruitment. Yale-China currently sends four Fellows to teach at Yali Middle School each year.
Photos: Upper right: Foote students in a computer lab at Yali. Above, left: Foote students and faculty on the Great Wall in 2009.

March 8, 2010 – Ninth Graders, Teachers Arrive in China

In a telephone call to the school early Monday morning New Haven time, an ebullient Deb Riding reported that the travelers had arrived safely in Hong Kong. It was 11:20 p.m. in Hong Kong, and the group was having a quick dinner at a noodle house across from their hotel. Deb said the flight, while undeniably long, was very pleasant and the kids held up really, really well. She says they are all very happy and excited to be in China. The group has the same guide as last year, so Foote already has a good relationship with him and he understands what they are looking for. In addition to Deb Riding, teachers Brad McGuire and Karla Matheny are accompanying the students.

Once again, each student is prepared to be a docent at a particular site on the itinerary. Clay is ready to be the first at the Wong Tai Sin Daoist Temple tomorrow.

Deb Riding is a humanities teacher and coordinator of the Foote-China Program. This is her fourth trip to China with Foote students, and she called the school each day with detailed updates on the trip. Those updates will be posted here ASAP.

Complete Itinerary
updated 3/30/10

Yali Middle School Visits Foote

From September 30 to October 3, 2009 a delegation of 22 students from Foote's sister school, Yali Middle School in Changsha, China, visited Foote, attending classes and getting to know the school, the students and the faculty. This was the third year in a row that Yali students and faculty visited Foote. The students all stayed with Foote host families, just as Foote students stay with Yali familes when they visit China in the spring. The Chinese students also joined Foote ninth graders on a field trip to the West River, part of a multi-year Foote study of ecology of the river. Click here for the New Haven Register's October 7 story on the visit. You'll find more photos of the visit on our Scrapbook pages.

Foote School Visits China

When Foote's ninth grade students and several teachers visited China in March of 2010, one of them called the school each day to report on their adventures and activites, which were then posted on the web for friends and families to read. Click here for that daily diary.

March 2010 Itinerary

PHOTO GALLERIES 

March 201China
(Preliminary Gallery)

September 2009
Yali Visits Foote

THE CHINA CONNECTION
A Chronology:

March 2010
Ninth graders visit China

September 2009
Yali Visits Foote

March 2009
The entire ninth grade visits China for 12 days.

Fall 2008
Student delegation from Yali visits Foote

March 2008
The ninth grade visits China for 12 days.

Fall 2007
Student delegation from Yali visits Foote

March 2007
The entire ninth grade visits China.

March 2006
The heads of Foote School and Yali Middle School sign a protocol of agreement during the ninth grade visit.

March 2004
First delegation of ninth graders visits China

Spring 1999
Foote teacher Ben Fussiner goes to Huizhen

Fall 1998
Hu Ying from Huizhen Academy is first exchange teacher.

Spring 1998
Foote and Huizhen Academy inaugurate a sister school relationship.

Chinese Exchange Participants:

2009  Xiang Jiaxiang
2008  Yan Ke
2007  Li Yu
2006  Hu Yefang
2005  Wang Can
2004  Chen Guangwen
            Cao Jun
2003  Yang Yafeng
2002  Zhang Xiaoxia
2001  Zhou Yayuan
2000  Xu Ming
1999  Guo Bin
1998  Hu Ying

Foote Exchange
Participants:

2010  Deb Riding
           Karla Matheny
           Brad McGuire
2009  Sheila Lavey
           Lara Anderson
           Kim Yap
           Ryan Harrity '98
2008  Deb Riding
           Sheila Lavey
           Lynne Valentine
           John Climie
2007 Gail Brand
            Oliver Morris
            Deb Riding
2006   David Feldman
            Elane Feldman
            Gail Mirza
            Deb Riding
2005   Colleen Moran
             Jim Adams
2004    Hannah Leckman
             Adam Solomon
2003    Walter Corbiere
2002    Lisa Totman
2001    Tina Hansen
2000    Lynne Valentine
             Judy Brennan
1999    Ben Fussiner